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| Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
I have a wildflower garden at our Homestead's entrance. Ragweed and Bidens had grown tall, above the flowers I planted, so I was happy today to clear away those aggressive plants and find my native Purple Coneflowers and Dotted Horsemints.
And even happier to find seeds!
The spiky seedheads (in foil) are just full of seeds.
I'm saving them in paper today to plant in October!
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| Turmeric in half-barrel planter |
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| Ginger in containers |
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| Pretty flower on edible Turmeric |
After the first frosts, when the leaves have died down, I harvest my Ginger and Turmeric to use in healthy recipes. Growing my own saves me a lot of money (recipe links at the end of this post)!
I keep my Ginger and Turmeric fresh, all winter long, by storing the rhizomes in sand in covered containers. I learned about storing Ginger and Turmeric in sand from Morag Gamble's YouTube video.
To be sure to have Ginger and Turmeric for next year, I save some of the rhizomes for planting. In the Spring, I freshen the soil in my planters with compost, divide the rhizomes into smaller pieces, and replant.
Sometimes, to make things even easier, I leave some of the rhizomes in their containers to overwinter, and just harvest enough to prevent overcrowding. Large containers can be left in place, while smaller containers are best moved into a sheltered spot. Overwintered Ginger and Turmeric plants will come up on their own in the Spring. They do well with a little added compost and mulch snuggled in around their shoots and each year they increase in numbers.
When ready to use the harvest, I first brush off any loose dirt or sand from the rhizomes, then wash them in water, using a brush to clean them thoroughly. The best way to peel Ginger and Turmeric, surprisingly, is with a spoon! (I wear gloves when peeling Turmeric to keep it from staining my hands.)
No matter how you use your fresh Ginger or Turmeric, they both add flavor and health benefits to your meals. I like fresh sliced Ginger in stir fries, and grated Ginger in a healthy shrub or in "Switchel." Here are some fun Ginger recipes:
I fell in love with Narrow-leaved Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) when I first saw its cheerful blooms on walks at our West Virginia homestead. The blossoms would appear to dance in the afternoon sun, twisting and turning in the slightest breeze. I called them “Sparkle Flowers”!
They were so pretty, I didn’t recognize the little wildflowers as Plantains. I was used to the Broad-leaved Plantain (Plantago major), a well-known medicinal plant but a larger one that can look a little weedy. When I learned that my "Sparkle Flowers" were Narrow-leaved Plantain, with medicinal properties similar to Broad-leaved Plantain, it was a win-win for me – cute flowers on a medicinal plant that I could slip into my garden beds.
I grew plants from seed for our new Florida homestead this
year. Seeds from Strictly Medicinal Herbs, started in January, were ready for a garden border by March.
